


Into the Stars

by laikaspeaks



Series: Diankko Week Prompts [2]
Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Space Opera, F/F, Magical Corruption, prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-13 15:51:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15368013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laikaspeaks/pseuds/laikaspeaks
Summary: A series of prompts for Dianakko Week 2018.1. Adventure - Diana meets starship pilot Akko Kagari aboard her ship,Chariot.Little does she know, it's the start of many adventures to come.2. Danger - Akko and Diana go up against a tree-spirit corrupted by fire magic.





	1. Adventure

Supposedly this ship made the fastest times on record, but she wasn't sure if she believed it. The _Chariot_  was a tiny vessel and had to be at least double, maybe even triple Diana's twenty-five years. Its hull was scoured dull and colorless by space debris, and the interior wasn't much better, despite the attempts to cheer up the space with posters and even little murals painted directly on the metal hull. There were even a few stickers low on the walls as if placed by a child, peeled and worn until very little of their color remained. Perhaps it was an agile vessel in the old days, but now it was nothing but a junk heap.

Fortunately Diana came looking for a pilot, not a ship.

She found her in the tiny mess kitchen, bent over the little oven and cursing under her breath. "Are you the pilot of this vessel? I was told you’re the best in the quadrant.”

The girl glanced over her shoulder and turned, their eyes met and Diana felt like she’s cartwheeling through zero-g, disoriented and a little sick. Kagari Atsuko was younger than she expected. She had long, silky hair doing its best to escape her braid, and the space suit did little to hide her slim curves. Said suit definitely wasn’t standard issue - it was pink, for one. She was searing-bright against the dull grey bulkheads and the browns of synthetic leather seats. 

She smiled easily, crinkling the thick cotton bandage taped to her cheek. Her steps almost bounced as if she was used to moving a much lighter gravity. 

"I'm Kagari Atsuko, of the _Chariot,_ but you can call me Akko." She offered a grease-stained hand, and Diana shook it with only a little trepidation. The knuckles on both hands were scarred, with new scabs laid over freshly healed pink skin, and a splint wrapped around her left pointer and middle finger. “They were right! You won’t find anyone better than me on this station.”

"Diana, of Halfway Station."

Akko smiled again. She was beautiful in a roughshod way. Diana only just remembered to release the other woman's hand in time.

 _Best on the station_  wasn’t exactly the same as _best in the quadrant_ , but Diana didn’t press the point. She crossed her arms over her chest, all-too aware of the unfamiliar stiffness of her new uniform. The single-piece station uniforms were far thicker, intended to save her life if she was spaced. The high, stiff collar with the helmet folded into it was even more uncomfortable, and made her shoulders stiff - but she had no intention of complaining, now or ever.

“I need a pilot to take me to the asteroid belt around Hades 4242a. Preferably sooner rather than later.”

“There’s a reason they call it the Hades Circle, you know!” Akko leaned against the bulkhead, her eyebrows drawing together. “Why would a brand new cadet have go to a place like that? Who did you piss off?”

“There’s a fortune in scrap on the planet’s surface, but it’s not really worth it.” Diana nearly jumped out of her skin, and spun to see a pale girl with a shock of red hair tucked against one of the walls. Her hands were flying over the keys on a tablet. “Hades-4242a is a habitable planet, but the Hades asteroid field makes it unapproachable and undesirable as a colony.”

She had huge, thick-framed glasses - an oddity in this day and age - and a smattering of freckles across her cheeks. The freckles were her history scrawled across her face: dirtcrawler.

 _Planetsider_ , Diana reminded herself with a twinge of shame.

“See? Lotte knows. There’s nothing there but dead ships and rocks.” Akko leaned forward with her hands on her hips, her face close enough that it make Diana’s face heat. “What do you wanna find out there anyway?”

Diana finally dragged her eyes away from that bright, knife-sharp gaze. “I’m… I’m looking for someone. They disappeared into the asteroid field.”

“Oh.” Akko flopped back against the bulkhead with an odd expression… almost disappointed. “Well how long ago was their last transmission? Days? Weeks?”

Diana took a deep breath, then released it. “Twenty years.”


	2. Danger

“Akko!” Diana scrambled out of the way of a bolt of fire, tossing her incinerated broom aside. Time was crystallized into this one moment, like the entire world was drawn down to Diana. She looked so small from above, like a doll. “Akko, don’t wait for me, just go!”

Diana spun to face her attacker, lifting her shattered wand with her back resolutely straight.

Akko lifted her eyes. Behind Diana there was figure that was less a woman and more like a pillar of fire, a blackened wand clutched in gnarled hands. Fire spread in her path, burning everything - everything, including the world tree. In her wake there was only dead space, where the magic was burned completely away. An empty, black pit inside her mind’s eye. It was repulsive. It made her sick.

_If we don’t destroy the relic, she’ll kill magic. She’ll kill the world._

_The relic is priority, Akko, do you understand?_

It was like she knew all along it would come to this. Knowing stupid, selfless Diana, she probably did. 

“No, no way!”

Akko turned the broom around and pressed herself close to the handle. She tipped into a dive that made her eyes water, the air whipping past so fast it was freezing cold.

All Akko could think of was a morning not too long ago. Diana’s face tucked against her shoulder, her face smooth and peaceful. A late breakfast with too much syrup, watching reruns of the Shiny Chariot cartoons Diana pretended she didn't like, climbing into Diana’s lap and kissing her cheeks until she laughed. Nothing special, just an ordinary morning. 

“Diana, reach for me!” She didn’t. She didn’t even look up.

Akko swung upside down on the broom, her legs crossed around the handle so that she could reach both hands down to grab the back of Diana’s uniform. A tilt of her hips sent them rocketing upward at terrifying speed.

Diana was actually _struggling_ , with her boots dangling over a thousand foot drop. It wouldn’t kill her - she had a spell for that - but Akko hadn't grown up a witch and the sight was still terrifying. Akko’s shoulders screamed in protest, but she managed to wrap an arm around Diana’s waist. “Akko! Akko, put me down! She’ll follow us, you can’t!”

Below them the fire was spreading, burning a broad streak of black and grey into the landscape.

She was dizzy from the blood rushing to her head, from the smoke filling her lungs, from the idea of a morning without Diana’s voice to wake her up. They were about to graduate. They had their whole lives in front of them. It wasn’t fair.

“I can’t.” It was swept away by the wind, but Diana must have caught it anyway.

“I - I know, but you have to - please. You have to believe in me.”

That was a dirty trick. Diana was always cheating like that.

She took a deep breath, trying to see past the tears blurring her eyes. 

“Diana, I love you.”

Akko let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering if this fire spirit is a reference to Diana's ancestor from Dianakko Week 2017, you are absolutely right! I'm still dying to do a full fic with this.


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